Flight Log

Stepping Up Your Labor Standards with JDA Labor Management

Cruising along the highway and looking at your speedometer, the last thing you want is a rough estimate of your speed; you certainly don’t want the highway patrolman’s radar gun to be a rough estimate either. The same can be said for Labor Standards. When implementing JDA Warehouse Labor Management software for the build and enforcement of Labor Standards, we’re often asked why we recommend engineered labor standards vs. a unit per hour standard. When using Labor Management software, engineered standards are the difference between a rough estimation and an accurate radar gun.

Many people do not know that JDA offers their Warehouse Labor Management software with an entire catalog of engineered standard elements called Master Standard Data. Using those elements, we’re able to construct patterns which interpret the actions performed in a warehouse environment. These patterns are then placed in a flowchart, which is made up of all the actions performed to complete a specific job. Frequency calculations are then applied to the patterns within a flowchart to provide accurate measurements of tasks within a job. This is the core of Engineered Standards. Along with flowcharts, there are also some complex-sounding components such as machine timings and personal fatigue and delay calculations which have shown incredible results in measuring a workforce globally.

Once Engineered Standards are implemented, many operations feel comfortable utilizing an incentive and accountability program. This enables operations to assure those individuals outperforming the standards will be rewarded for performing tasks in a more efficient manner than average; and those using less efficient methods are identified and coached to improvement.

By utilizing full Engineered Standards, operations are able to understand the amount of workforce that is truly necessary to complete the tasks in a warehouse. This allows operations to understand the amount of savings associated with productivity improvements.

Every operation should have some form of Labor Standards. Unit per hour standards are a great way to start growing a productive culture. Moving forward, fine tune your standards and reinforce confidence in your standards accuracy to further your way along to a culture of productivity. Using the engineered data is the best way. JDA Warehouse Labor Management will allow you to build Engineered Standards and install, apply and report the results in one software solution. Stop estimating your speed and get a radar gun for your operations productivity today.

With the highest levels of customer service at the core of our company culture, we knew it was time to deploy the leading warehouse and labor management solution to support our distribution network. It was clear; Open Sky Group features a team of experts to deploy the JDA software and provides the right fit to work with Benco Dental.

— Benco Dental, Bill Renfer, Director of Distribution Operations

“Open Sky Group has a decade of experience deploying JDA Warehouse Management and JDA Warehouse Labor Management for our joint customers and we are thrilled to partner with them on these key customer deployments. The newest version of JDA Warehouse Management has been designed to accelerate deployment times and speed time-to-value, and together with Open Sky Group, we anticipate these deployments will be up and running quickly, giving these customers a powerful WMS that bolsters their warehouse operations.”